Youth unemployment
Youth unemployment is one of the most critical challenges the world is facing today: young people make up almost half of the world’s unemployed, despite accounting for only one quarter of the working population. Youth unemployment is the unemployment of young people, defined by the United Nations as 14–28 years old. An unemployed person is defined as someone who does not have a job but is actively seeking work. In order to qualify as unemployed for official and statistical measurement, the individual must be without employment, willing and able to work, of the officially designated 'working age' and actively searching for a position. Youth unemployment rates are historically four to five times more than the adult rates in every country in the world.In 2012, youth made up to 40% of the world unemployed, with a global youth unemployment rate of 12.6%. Close to 75 million youth were unemployed worldwide.In November 2011, the number of unemployed youth in the United Kingdom exceeded one million for the first time in the past 19 years.In Spain, youth unemployment has doubled since 2008 and now stands at 46%.In the OECD as a whole, 15 million young people are unemployed representing around $300 billion in lost wages alone, over a full year.
Causes
There are multiple and complex causes behind youth unemployment. Among them, the quality and relevance of education, inflexible labour market and regulations, which in turn create a situation of assistance and dependency, are the main causes discussed today.
From education to employment: the skills crisis
The quality and relevance of education is often considered as the first root cause of youth unemployment.[13] In 2010, in 25 out of 27 developed countries, the highest unemployment rate was among people with primary education or less[14] Yet, high education does not guarantee a decent job. For example, in Tunisia, 40% of university graduates are unemployed against 24% of non-graduates.[13] This affects highly educated young
Causes
There are multiple and complex causes behind youth unemployment. Among them, the quality and relevance of education, inflexible labour market and regulations, which in turn create a situation of assistance and dependency, are the main causes discussed today.
From education to employment: the skills crisis
The quality and relevance of education is often considered as the first root cause of youth unemployment.[13] In 2010, in 25 out of 27 developed countries, the highest unemployment rate was among people with primary education or less[14] Yet, high education does not guarantee a decent job. For example, in Tunisia, 40% of university graduates are unemployed against 24% of non-graduates.[13] This affects highly educated young